Scenes from the Mumbai Bombings

Near-simultaneous bomb blasts rocked three busy neighborhoods during evening rush hour in India's busy financial capital Wednesday, killing at least 17 people in what the government called an apparent terrorist attack on the city beseiged by militants nearly three years ago.

The first blast struck the Jhaveri Bazaar at 6.54 p.m., tearing through the famed jewelry market. A minute later, a second blast hit the busy business district of Opera House, several miles away in southern Mumbai. At 7:05 p.m., the third bomb exploded in the crowded neighborhood of Dadar in central Mumbai, according to police.